Thoracoscopy is a new techique and it has not been widenly applied yet in Vietnam. During a period of time from 09/2003 to 08/2004, the researcher had thoracoscopied for 17 patients. Among them, 14 patients with pleural effusion (6males, 8 females, the ages from 20 to 80). The patients were bronchoscopy and pleural biopsy by Castelain needles for 2 to 3 times but not yet definitive diagnosis. Thoracoscopy biopsy has effective in histological diagnosis on 10/14 (72%) patients. Among the patients, cancer patients was 57%, tuberculars were 15%. There isn’t any complication.
Preliminary remark about the value of thoracoscopy in diagnosis and treatment recurrent